By Dr. Padmavathi Narasimhan

Abhishek Raghuram sang on the 5th day of the music series at 8th Cross Ganapati Sangeetotsava. He was accompanied by young Gokul on violin, the very senior Mannargudi Vasudevan on tavil and Ananth Krishnan on mridanga. The concert, scheduled for 6.45 pm, began at 7.30 pm and concluded at 11.30 pm!

The concert opened with the Begade Varna ‘Inta Jaalamu’ by Veena Kuppaiyer set to Adi Tala. ‘Sri Gananatham Bhajare’ by Deekshitar in Eesha Manohari was a good selection but even before the listeners could make out what the composition was, it ended. As the composition was short, the vocalist could have rendered it slowly with repetitions and also kalpana swaras could have been suffixed. ‘Mundu Venuka’ by Tyagaraja, a rare piece in Darbar, too, was a    mere presentation.

‘Sharanu Siddhi Vinayaka’ in Hameer Kalyani by Purandara Dasaru brought some solace with the overflowing swaras in various combinations. There seemed to be a lack of shruti co-ordination between violin, vocal and mridanga throughout the concert.

The hindola alapana began low and slow and one expected the raga to be expanded fully. But abhishek abruptly took up the anupallavi of the composition ‘Saama Gaana Lole’, which gave the audience a sense of incompleteness. Neraval and swaraprastara at ‘Kameshwara Vaama bhaaga sadane’ showed long phrases and racy birgas drawing appreciation from the crowd. After this there was a short taniyavartanam of about 15 minutes. The senior Tavil artiste encouraged both the vocalist and the mridangist throughout the concert and Abhishek’s excitement of singing with him was evident.

‘Kavave kanyakumari’ in Shahana by M. Balamuralikrishna and Sri Tyagaraja’s ‘Nenarunchi naanu’ rendered in amazing speed and yet with clarity were fillers. Todi alapana was great wherein Abhishek explored innumerable possibilities but the violinist wasn’t given a chance as Abhishek began to sing tanam soon after which he compensated this by allowing Gokul to play the tanam. Papanashanam  Shivam’s ‘Tamasam en Swamy’ set to Adi tala was rendered well but Abhishek gave way to a second taniyavartanam at 10.30 pm which went on up to 11.15 pm after which the concert abruptly came to a close with not even mangalam sung in the end.

While Abhishek’s admiration for the senior Tavilist seemed to border on devotion, mridangist Ananth Krishnan displayed his approbation by trying to match his energy.